"Besides the main building, the villa has a stable. It used to have a mill too, but the Germans converted it into a place for generators and fuel. There are also servants' quarters, which were turned into barracks..."
After pushing open the main building's doors, the agent chattered endlessly about the property, but Pomona did not listen. She wanted to see it with her own eyes.
At the entrance stood a pair of symmetrical marble staircases leading to the second floor. The passage between them led to a space that could serve as a ballroom, its floor covered in wooden boards that looked to be in excellent condition. She could almost hear the sound of boots striking them.
Sometimes, German soldiers brought their families with them when they were posted somewhere. Malfoy Manor had once served as Death Eater headquarters, and Narcissa had been forced to endure those people coming and going through her home.
Little girls were often foolish enough to think someone would listen to their opinions.
But in the tidal wave of an era like that, individual thoughts had long since been swallowed up by the masses.
Unlike Hitler, the Dark Lord had not funded his war by plundering "people." He had chosen Goblins, a species long despised by wizards.
Once he had money, he could pay wages to those who followed him, providing work for fallen pure-blood nobles such as the Gaunt family.
He claimed to be Slytherin's descendant, but he probably only confirmed that after opening the Chamber of Secrets. During his first year after entering Hogwarts, he had still been a poor orphan dependent on the school's scholarship to study, with nowhere even to stay during the summer holidays. By the beginning of his second year, he already had the bearing of an aristocrat.